Down the rabbit hole

Chapter 9

The walk to the shipyard was longer than Alex thought. It had been four days and they still weren't there. It occurred to her that she was missing classes right now, but that didn't matter much to her at the moment.

The one good thing about the long trek was that she had gotten a lot closer to her companions than she was previously. Still, she'd be lying if she said she enjoyed walking everywhere.

"Can't we just catch a ride or something," she complained, "Even if cars don't exist, there've gotta be horses right?"

"You sound a lot like Light!" Luca said, floating lazily beside her "Besides, a little walking never killed anybody!"

"That's pretty easy for you to say!" Alex said, "You can float!"

"She's right you know," Levi interjected from ahead of them, "You can't say anything if you're floating. You oughta walk with us."

They floated down to the ground without a word, but Alex could feel their annoyance through their bond.

"To answer your question," Levi continued, "Public transportation exists in Wonderland, but the point of this mission is to keep it discreet."

"And there's nothing discreet about the three of us catching a train anywhere," Luca chimed in.

Alex sighed, "I know, and it makes sense, but this way takes so much longer!"

"Patience is key," Levi said.

Luca's ears pricked as they sniffed the air. They seemed to perk up immediately.

"Oh boy..." Levi grumbled.

"Coffee!" they exclaimed excitedly, "Can we stop? We have to stop! I need coffee!"

"No, no, no you don't," Levi said, "You're not getting coffee."

"Can't we at least make a stop?" Alex asked, "If there's coffee around then there has to be a town."

"We have to focus on the mission, remember," he said.

She smirked, "Didn't you just say patience was key? Besides I think we could all use a-"

Luca had caught her attention. They were spinning around in circles, rambling endlessly about how much they loved coffee.

"A-are they okay?" she asked.

"No," Levi said before sighing, "Fine we can go, but no coffee."

"Aw, come on Levi, what's the worst that can happen?" She protested scooping Luca into her arms and putting an end to their rambling.

"You have no idea," he said.

The town wasn't very large but it was the first one she'd seen in four days, so it was a welcome sight. Sure enough, there was a coffee shop near the center of town. Luca had begged to go, but Levi firmly refused. Alex still didn't see the problem with just giving them a cup. Surely it couldn't hurt much and Levi was being dramatic. However a small part of her wanted to believe him, remembering how excited Luca got at just the possibility of coffee. Who knew what they'd do once they actually had some.

So Alex had come up with a compromise with herself. If she couldn't get them actual coffee, the least she could do was give them something coffee flavored. So she found herself in the town's general store, roaming the shelves for something. Luca and Levi had long since disappeared, who knew what they were up to. Well at least Alex was certain Luca hadn't had a drop of coffee. He and Levi had agreed to stay in their animal forms, to blend in a bit better, and she was certain people didn't give coffee to cats.

A bag of what looked like caramel candies stuck out to her. Upon further inspection, Alex found it wasn't caramel at all, but a bag of candied coffee. She hadn't been aware it had existed before now and she decided to buy it. What did Levi know anyway?